Jindal will welcome Obama to Louisiana

BATON ROUGE – Gov. Bobby Jindal said he will greet President Barack Obama in New Orleans when he steps off Air Force One, and he hopes to have some time to talk about issues he believes are important to Louisiana.

Obama is coming to the state to tour the Port of New Orleans, one of the nation’s busiest ports.

“We are always happy when the president of the United States comes to Louisiana,” Jindal said Thursday at a Governor’s Mansion press conference. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Democrat or Republican. It’s not about politics, it’s about policies.”

Jindal outlined problems he has with several of the president’s policies, starting with education.

Obama’s Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit questioning whether Louisiana’s voucher program interferes with federally imposed desegregation orders in 41 of the state’s 70 school districts.

Jindal said the president can’t run for re-election, so “he doesn’t have to worry about unions” and could order the DOJ to drop the lawsuit. He said Obama should remember his 2010 inaugural address when he said a child’s ability to get a good education shouldn’t depend on his ZIP code.

He also has a problem with the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, and believes the best way to fix it is to repeal it and start all over.

“Sometimes you just have to admit you were wrong,” Jindal said. “I’ve done that.”

He said he would keep the parts that allow coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions and allow people to keep their coverage if they like it. He said he doesn’t like that 92,000 Louisiana residents will have to change policies, even though Obama said the plan would allow everyone to keep their existing policies if they like them.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu has proposed legislation to allow people to keep their current health care coverage if they prefer.

Part of the ACA sets minimum standards for policies, and an estimated 92,000 policies don’t meet that standard.

Jindal also has a problem with the president’s economic and energy policies. He said he doesn’t consider 2 percent growth being on the road to recovery and the president should approve the Keystone pipeline running from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

“In Louisiana, we have a record number of people working” and a huge number of jobs coming to the state, he said. “The biggest problem we’ll have is filling all of those jobs. Our economy could grow if the federal government would get out of the way.”

Louisiana Democrats also welcome Obama’s visit and hope it spurs Jindal and other state officials to reconsider expanding Medicaid.

There will be “a large number of Louisiana citizens who will be left in the cold or stuck in the gap. … Plus, when you add up the disparate health outcome in this state, it really is in many ways a no brainer,’’ said New Orleans Mitch Landrieu, who spoke to reporters Thursday on a conference call advancing Obama’s trip.

“This issue has been very volatile over time,’’ Mitch Landrieu said. “I happen to think the weight of the argument will fall in favor of Medicaid expansion sooner or later.”

Louisiana Democrats said the expansion would help more than 200,000 residents. They also note the federal government will pick up most of the tab, which they say could help the strapped state.